1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly, to an electrical connector which includes a movable shutter for protecting the contacts of the electrical connector.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrical connectors are widely used in a variety of applications for making electrical contacting within an electrical system or electrical systems. Generally, an electrical connector has a mating portion with a plurality of contacts located therein. The mating portion is configured to electrically mate with a complementary connector. When the complementary connector is not mated with the mating portion of the connector, the mating portion is exposed in the exterior. Thus, foreign matter such as dust and the like may enter the exposed mating portion and adhere to the contacts, whereby the electrical connection may be interrupted or compromised when the complementary connector mates with the mating portion of the connector. To protect the contacts located in the mating portion of the electrical connector from foreign matters, the electrical connector is provided with a shutter covering the mating portion and configured to freely move from a closed position protecting the mating portion to an opened position exposing the mating portion.
U.S. Patent application Pub. No. 2003/0077929 discloses an electrical connector with a shutter. The electrical connector includes a mating portion, a plurality of contacts located in the mating portion and a shutter made by a pair of shutter member for protecting the contacts. The shutter comprises a pair of sliding sections provided at edges thereof, a pair of arms provided at opposite ends in a lengthwise direction thereof. The arms comprise shafts or bearing holes so that the pair of the shutter member are rotatablely attached to opposite ends in a lengthwise of the electrical connector. The connector further comprises a coil spring connecting the pair of the shutter member and pulling the pair of shutter members toward each other to cover the mating portion. A complementary connector is provided with a guide portion to fit into the mating portion of the connector. The guide portion urges the sliding sections of the shutter to expose the mating portion for electrically connecting with the complementary connector.
In the former connector mentioned above, the shutter is rotatablely supported by and fixed on the housing of the connector. The shutter can move rotatablely from a closed position where the shutter covers the mating portion to an opened position where the complementary connectors is fit into the connector. However, problems may be raised due to the shutter' moving by rotatable manner. One main problem is that, when the shutter rotatablely reaches to the opened position, the shutter is located at two opposite longitudinal sides of the connector. Thus, the shutter takes up too much space above a printed circuit board which the connector is mounted on so that the printed circuit board cannot hold other electronic components in the space which the shutter passes through during rotatablely moving. At the same time, with the development of integration and miniaturization, a variety of electronic systems are required to make as small as possible, and that in limited space should be held electronic components as more as possible. Obviously, the former connector with the shutter cannot satisfactorily reach to the requirement. Hence, an electrical connector with another type of shutter is highly desired to adequately meet the requirement above mentioned.